Letter to the editor: Faculty respond to president’s commentary

Your commentary, “Policy won’t hinder media access,” published in The Ithacan on October 11th, explains your decision for instituting the Student Media Access Policy, but it does not cover any new ground.

More to the point, it does not address the broader concerns many students, faculty, and staff have raised about this policy and its method of implementation, namely, growing centralization and bureaucratization, a preference for administrative unilateralism and fiat, and the inculcation of corporatist attitudes at the college. We feel these trends hollow out the culture of openness, collegiality, and trust that has evolved at Ithaca over the past two decades and which we would like to see strengthened.

Instead of “tweaking” this policy, we ask you to rescind it forthwith and to meet with students so that the college can learn how best to serve their interests as journalists. This would be a demonstration of your commitment to open conversation and shared governance that would be heartening to a currently very discouraged college community.